It has been my experience that, increasingly with large scale service providers, including (but not exclusively) airlines, the first complaint tends to attract a generic answer that bears no close relation to the complaint. I have zero actual knowledge of this but my suspicion is that CR departments handling a fairly large number of complaints have probably found it more efficient to use fairly crude AI assistance tools to pick up a few key words in the complaint, identify the broad area to which it relates and propose a standard answer that enables a single employee to fire gazillions of answers at a much faster rate than if they were to read the complaint carefully and tailor an answer to it and that it is only when you reach stage 2 of a customer replying to the initial response that you get a more personalised consideration of the complaint. If they get rid of 90% of routine complaint at stage 1 in this way, you can see how it can make sense from their perspective. From the customer perspective, however, it is irritating to have to go through this charade before your complaint is taken seriously. As I don't expect that service providers will invest heavily in additional staff for better consideration of complaints, my hope is that the AI tools I suspect they use will get better at triaging and providing more appropriate answers. :eek:

Lomé (LFW)

Name of the lounge: Salon Union
Location: departures area
Opening Hours: ?? Definitely until late as AF flights leave past midnight
Entry requirements: usual requirements
Food offer: some warm (microwaved) dishes are available on request
Drinks offer: beer, wine, very average spirits, local soft drinks (there’s no Coca-Cola in Togo! :D)

Services
Wifi: Yes
Showers: No
Toilets: Yes
Quiet zone: No
Loungers/sleep area: No
Business area: there are some larger tables which may constitute an ad-hoc business area
Spa: No
TV area: Yes
Passengers are called: Yes
Information screen: No
Newspapers: No

Other information
Number of seats: around 50
Level of noise: Quiet while I was there, but it was late
Design: Old
View: No
Multi floors: No
Terrace: No
Smoking area: No
Direct boarding: No
Plugs/USB chargers: Some wall sockets

Hey everyone,

Apologies if it's a noob question, I'm still new to the intricacies of Flying Blue.

I've just been denied access to the AF lounge at CDG on an AF-marketed, JU-operated flight. The lounge dragon was adamant that as FB Gold I don't get access on flights operated by non-ST airlines, even if marketed by AF.

Is she right? I was under the impression that it was all about the marketing carrier when it comes to elite benefits.

It is variable with codeshare flights on non-ST partners and depends on what was negotiated.

As mentioned above, depends on what negotation was between the carrier. JU isn't particularly close when it comes to the relation with AF/KLM.

I believe OP should have been granted lounge access in this case if booked under AF code, especially knowing that JU departs from 2E where there are AF lounges.

The AF code is unfortunately irrelevant. It really depends on the codeshare agreement and whether the operating carrier pays for lounge access or not.
I have been once refused access to the AF lounge at ORY departing on a T3-operated AF-marketed flight as "T3 does not pay for lounge access under the codeshare agreement". The website was absolutely unclear about that at booking time. I tried to complain on the AF website without any success.

BTW, for Air+Rail travellers, here's what you can get with the 16€ voucher at the Sheraton ("Le Parisien" breakfast for 15€)...

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...98b83fed15.jpg

Bolding is mine.

I used to fly AY operated AF coded flights from 2B. I was annoyed that I could not bring a guest, so I started to enquire in order to complain with the right people.

I ended up learning that entrance in the lounge was paid for by AF, not the operating carrier AY.

Same with OK operated flights.

I was told that ALL flights departing from Paris with AF code would be be treated the same : if from E or F, AF lounge. If not, in third party lounge such as the one in 2B (now 2 B-D).

I was told as well, that if the AY operated AF coded flight had left from 2F instead of 2B, I would have been allowed to guest my client (reason being that in 2B they pay for each guest where in 2F it is an AF lounge and the costs are not the same).

I did complain in writing.

They answered that indeed AF would allow only the FB member to the lounge as per the contract they signed with the lounge. Nowhere did they say that AY had something to do with it.

On another occasion, I spoke with the the lounge staff and they confirmed to me that the contract they had was with AF. They had a contract with AY and OK as well, for their own pax.

It was not and if this is the “new norm”, this is really an issue as there is no point buying a code share (I know it’s not only for lounge access, but it’s an important part of the equation for Elites+). And I am not talking about accessing a lounge in a terminal where AF a does not operate from, where we could eventually understand they don’t have a contract with a local lounge. Here we talk about terminal 2E where AF operates 3 lounges. OP paid a ticket to AF, possibly (certainly) more expensive than if bought directly from JU, in order to have certain benefits and one of the most important was not granted.

Overall, when you read this and all the recent horror stories we read on this forum with VN and KM code-shares, it’s obvious that code-shares has become a total jungle post-Covid and nobody cares at all and blame it on the other party for any problem :mad:

Thanks a lot for your inputs.

I agree with Goldorak on this one, I bought the ticket from AF in the full expectation to be granted access to their own lounge at their own home airport, especially since they let JU practically fly for them on the CDG-BEG route (3x daily JU vs. 0 AF) and they get significant feed from these flights for their TATL network.

There is still the benefit of earning XP on AF codeshares, but 5 XP isn't necessarily worth the price premium vs. buying directly on JU. I will shoot an email to customer care (to get clarity for future bookings rather than any kind of compensation) but I'm not holding my breath.

As an old data point (and I know it’s not relevant anymore potentially) but end 2019, I had access to a contract lounge in CDG2C where AF is not present anymore, when flying on Atlas Global to IST on AF code-share.

We had a barefoot winner today in 2F :(


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...dd2bef3eb3.jpg

OMG :eek:

^Doesn't surprise me, been seeing it for over a year now. Seems like with everyone getting access thesedays, it's becoming a place where many (not all) visiteurs are treating it like their own personal sofa. :td:

I treat my own sofa better 😅